As a small business owner you have unique needs, yet your core needs are the same as any business out there: getting your service or product out into the marketplace and gaining loyal customers, leading to both new and repeat sales.
So how is this best accomplished? If you are a small business owner, you need to let people know who you are and what you do. Advertising has a way of spreading like wildfire. Then once people get to know you and your product or service, the best form of advertising you can experience is word of mouth referrals and testimonials from your own customers to other people in their circle of influence.
Potential customers need to know what you or your product can do for them, but you need to stir up a desire or willingness in them to get involved with your business. How are you going to accomplish this? By building their trust.
An Essential Key Skill
Communication is a form of selling, so how you communicate is vital. Public speaking is a very important communication tool and is an essential key skill. It is a very effective way to communicate who you are, face to face, with potential customers and to sell your services, letting them know what you do and, more specifically, how you can help them. It is both powerful and influential because it generates trust and confidence in you as a person and gives a face to your business.
But public speaking can be a scary thing. It is the number one fear, with fear of death coming second. That means in a manner of speaking, people would rather be the person in the casket than the person up on stage speaking! Yet, public speaking is one of the best ways– using live events– to get people to know you. This form of presentation is essential for generating increased business and clientele, because people tend to do business based on relationships.
So why do most people shy away from this form of communication? Most often because of fear: fear of not knowing what to say, fear of forgetting their words, fear of looking dumb, or fear of being rejected. However, when you face these fears head on, armed with some simple strategies for successful public speaking, you can use this tool to your advantage to build your business and gain a cutting edge in your industry.
In the following series of articles we are going to look at how to pick the perfect presentation topic on which to speak. If you are a small business owner and are booked to speak in front of either your chamber of commerce or a networking group, how are you going to know what to talk about? This series of articles is going to show you exactly how to choose a great topic. That alone will give you increased confidence when you stand up to speak.
Meanwhile, get excited about this form of communicating because it is an essential tool for your small business. As you get your name and your business out into the marketplace, you will gain new business and clientele and be able to start expanding your small business base.
